Page 43 of Sassy Embrace

“Mason?” Emma called. “Holly’s ready to talk.”

Mason walked back to the frazzled woman and his mate. The other followed but lingered by the doorway.

Holly took a large breath and nodded. “There is a plot afoot. Against you and the pack. I was approached by a woman named Kim.”

Claude felt his stomach lurch at the name. Aria gasped, clutching Mai tighter against herself. Trevan leaned to his wife and whispered something into her ear. She nodded morosely and moved to another room.

“She claimed to be a widow by the hands of the Wolfe pack. She thought the two of us could make some sort of… allyship, or something, since I was widowed in a, – well – similar way.”

Emma looked at Mason sternly.

“Kim is a vampire,” Claude explained. He felt every pair of eyes in the room settle on him.

“She’s Damon’s widow,” Leigh said, speaking up quickly. She stood close to Claude as if lending emotional support. Or maybe just her wolf-shifter credibility. Claude nodded.

“I killed him,” Trevan said. His hands balled into fists, anger radiating from him. “She has a vendetta against me and Aria and wants to seize power of the vampire coven.”

From Claude’s point of view, Kim approaching Holly made no sense. The Wolfe pack had nothing to do with Damon’s death. So why lie?

“She was probably just making stuff up to try and connect with you,” Leigh explained, shifting Bab’s from one side to the other. “She might be recruiting allies now. It’d make sense she’d reach out to anyone she could think of.”

Holly swallowed hard, her face still pale. “It was… unnerving to be approached so suddenly by a vampire.”

Claude crossed his arms defensively without meaning to. He couldn’t help it. He’d just started feeling relaxed around these people. And now another vampire was creating further divisions.

“So, I told her I would consider her offer,” Holly said meekly.

“What?” Barbara snapped. “Why would you do that? She’ll find you to follow up on that.”

Holly shook, tears in her eyes. “I don’t know! I was scared. I didn’t know what else to do. I said maybe, then I came directly here.”

“Shit,” Mason whispered.

“I would never betray you,” Holly said as if pleading to be believed. “I said what I thought I needed to in order to placate her, but I would never even think about hurting you or your family.”

“We know,” Emma said sweetly, taking Holly’s head in her arms. “We know, Holly.”

“I don’t know what to do. I’m scared of what this woman might be capable of,” Holly admitted.

“Holly, Emma and I can-”

“We can help,” Tristan interjected, folding his arms and lowering his brow. “Barbara and I are more than capable of protecting you, Holly.”

The poor woman seemed ready to burst into tears.

Emma opened her mouth to object, but Barbara put up a hand to stop her. “You and Mason have a newborn to take care of. You don’t need to handle a rogue vampire starting a coupe as well.”

Emma looked forlorn but nodded in agreement. She walked over to Leigh and took her sleeping baby in her arms.

Mason sighed. “Thank you, Tristan.”

“Why don’t you go home, pack a bag, and meet us back here? We’ll take you to our place in Blue Creek,” Barbara said softly.

Holly nodded quickly, her lip trembling. “I don’t know how I’ll repay you.”

“Nonsense,” Tristan said. “We take care of each other, don’t we?” The room erupted in soft murmurs of agreement.

Claude felt a hand on his shoulder and noticed Trevan motioning for him to meet with Aria in the living room. He did so, following his coven leader.

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